Archive 15.11.2023

Experience AI's course and resources are expanding on a global scale

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and Google DeepMind recently developed RoboTool, a system that can broaden the capabilities of robots, allowing them to use tools in more creative ways. This system, introduced in a paper published on the arXiv preprint server, could soon bring a new wave of innovation and creativity to the field of robotics.

We introduce GraphCast, a state-of-the-art AI model able to make medium-range weather forecasts with unprecedented accuracy

We introduce GraphCast, a state-of-the-art AI model able to make medium-range weather forecasts with unprecedented accuracy

We introduce GraphCast, a state-of-the-art AI model able to make medium-range weather forecasts with unprecedented accuracy

Princeton researchers have developed a flexible, lightweight and energy efficient soft robot that moves without the use of any legs or rotary parts. Instead, the device uses actuators that convert electrical energy into vibrations that allow it to wiggle from point to point using only a single watt.

One of the key elements to consider when selecting LiDAR technology is whether you need safe LiDAR or LiDAR. But what makes LiDAR safe? And when do you need a safety-rated device? Well, look no further, we’ve got the answers for you right here!

The structure of Ghostbuster, our new state-of-the-art method for detecting AI-generated text.

Large language models like ChatGPT write impressively well—so well, in fact, that they’ve become a problem. Students have begun using these models to ghostwrite assignments, leading some schools to ban ChatGPT. In addition, these models are also prone to producing text with factual errors, so wary readers may want to know if generative AI tools have been used to ghostwrite news articles or other sources before trusting them.

What can teachers and consumers do? Existing tools to detect AI-generated text sometimes do poorly on data that differs from what they were trained on. In addition, if these models falsely classify real human writing as AI-generated, they can jeopardize students whose genuine work is called into question.

Our recent paper introduces Ghostbuster, a state-of-the-art method for detecting AI-generated text. Ghostbuster works by finding the probability of generating each token in a document under several weaker language models, then combining functions based on these probabilities as input to a final classifier. Ghostbuster doesn’t need to know what model was used to generate a document, nor the probability of generating the document under that specific model. This property makes Ghostbuster particularly useful for detecting text potentially generated by an unknown model or a black-box model, such as the popular commercial models ChatGPT and Claude, for which probabilities aren’t available. We’re particularly interested in ensuring that Ghostbuster generalizes well, so we evaluated across a range of ways that text could be generated, including different domains (using newly collected datasets of essays, news, and stories), language models, or prompts.

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TLDR: We propose the asymmetric certified robustness problem, which requires certified robustness for only one class and reflects real-world adversarial scenarios. This focused setting allows us to introduce feature-convex classifiers, which produce closed-form and deterministic certified radii on the order of milliseconds.

Figure 1. Illustration of feature-convex classifiers and their certification for sensitive-class inputs. This architecture composes a Lipschitz-continuous feature map $\varphi$ with a learned convex function $g$. Since $g$ is convex, it is globally underapproximated by its tangent plane at $\varphi(x)$, yielding certified norm balls in the feature space. Lipschitzness of $\varphi$ then yields appropriately scaled certificates in the original input space.

Despite their widespread usage, deep learning classifiers are acutely vulnerable to adversarial examples: small, human-imperceptible image perturbations that fool machine learning models into misclassifying the modified input. This weakness severely undermines the reliability of safety-critical processes that incorporate machine learning. Many empirical defenses against adversarial perturbations have been proposed—often only to be later defeated by stronger attack strategies. We therefore focus on certifiably robust classifiers, which provide a mathematical guarantee that their prediction will remain constant for an $\ell_p$-norm ball around an input.

Conventional certified robustness methods incur a range of drawbacks, including nondeterminism, slow execution, poor scaling, and certification against only one attack norm. We argue that these issues can be addressed by refining the certified robustness problem to be more aligned with practical adversarial settings.

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A team of engineers from the University of Illinois has published the first known study documenting the long-jumping motion of 3-D-printed insect-scale robots.

The subtle adhesive forces that allow geckos to seemingly defy gravity, cling to walls and walk across ceilings have inspired a team of researchers in South Korea to build a robotic device that can pick up and release delicate materials without damage. The team, based at Kyungpook National University and Dong-A University, has published their research work in Science and Technology of Advanced Materials. The researchers are hoping it can be applied to the transfer of objects by robotic systems.

Nature is the primary source of inspiration for many existing robotic systems, designed to replicate the appearance and behavior of various living organisms. By artificially reproducing biological processes, these robots can help tackle complex real-world problems more effectively.

Delica selected a Stöcklin AGV with BlueBotics’ ANT navigation technology to automate their materials handling between production and logistics.

I came to the Silicon Valley region in 2010 because I knew it was the robotics center of the world, but it certainly doesn’t get anywhere near the media attention that some other robotics regions do. In California, robotics technology is a small fish in a much bigger technology pond, and that tends to conceal how important Californian companies are to the robotics revolution.

This conservative dataset from Pitchbook [Vertical: Robotics and Drones] provides data for 7166 robotics and drones companies, although a more customized search would provide closer to 10,000 robotics companies world wide. Regions ordered by size are:

• North America 2802
• Asia 2337
• Europe 2285
• Middle East 321
• Oceania 155
• South America 111
• Africa 63
• Central America 13

 

USA robotics companies by state

1. California = 843 (667) * no of companies followed by no of head quarters
2. Texas = 220 (159)
3. New York = 193 (121)
4. Massachusetts = 191 (135)
5. Florida = 136 (95)
6. Pennsylvania = 113 (89)
7. Washington = 85 (61)
8. Colorado = 83 (57)
9. Virginia = 81 (61)
10. Michigan = 70 (56)
11. Illinois = 66 (43)
12. Ohio = 65 (56)
13. Georgia = 64 (46)
14. New Jersey = 53 (36)
15. Delaware = 49 (18)
16. Maryland = 48 (34)
17. Arizona = 48 (37)
18. Nevada = 42 (29)
19. North Carolina = 39 (29)
20. Minnesota = 31 (25)
21. Utah = 30 (24)
22. Indiana = 29 (26)
23. Oregon = 29 (20)
24. Connecticut = 27 (22)
25. DC = 26 (12)
26. Alabama = 25 (21)
27. Tennessee = 20 (18)
28. Iowa = 17 (14)
29. New Mexico = 17 (15)
30. Missouri = 17 (16)
31. Wisconsin = 15 (12)
32. North Dakota = 14 (8)
33. South Carolina = 13 (11)
34. New Hampshire = 13 (12)
35. Nebraska = 13 (11)
36. Oklahoma = 10 (8)
37. Kentucky = 10 (7)
38. Kansas = 9 (9)
39. Louisiana = 9 (8)
40. Rhode Island = 8 (6)
41. Idaho = 8 (6)
42. Maine = 5 (5)
43. Montana = 5 (4)
44. Wyoming = 5 (3)
45. Mississippi = 3 (1)
46. Arkansas = 3 (2)
47. Alaska = 3 (3)
48. Hawaii = 2 (1)
49. West Virginia = 1 (1)
50. South Dakota = 1 (0)

Note – this number in brackets is for HQ locations, whereas the first number is for all company locations. The end results and rankings are practically the same.

 

ASIA robotics companies by country

1. China = 1350
2. Japan = 283
3. India = 261
4. South Korea = 246
5. Israel = 193
6. Hong Kong = 72
7. Russia = 69
8. United Arab Emirates = 50
9. Turkey = 48
10. Malaysia = 35
11. Taiwan = 21
12. Saudi Arabia = 19
13. Thailand = 13
14. Vietnam = 12
15. Indonesia = 10
16. Lebanon = 7
17. Kazakhstan = 3
18. Iran = 3
19. Kuwait = 3
20. Oman = 3
21. Qatar = 3
22. Pakistan = 3
23. Philippines = 2
24. Bahrain = 2
25. Georgia = 2
26. Sri Lanka = 2
27. Azerbaijan = 1
28. Nepal = 1
29. Armenia = 1
30. Burma/Myanmar = 1

Countries with no robotics; Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Syria, Jordan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Mongolia, Cambodia, Laos, North Korea, East Timor.

 

UK/EUROPE robotics companies by country

1. United Kingdom = 443
2. Germany = 331
3. France = 320
4. Spain = 159
5. Netherlands = 156
6. Switzerland = 140
7. Italy = 125
8. Denmark = 115
9. Sweden = 85
10. Norway = 80
11. Poland = 74
12. Belgium = 72
13. Russia = 69
14. Austria = 51
15. Turkey = 48
16. Finland = 45
17. Portugal = 36
18. Ireland = 28
19. Estonia = 24
20. Ukraine = 22
21. Czech Republic = 19
22. Romania = 19
23. Hungary = 18
24. Lithuania = 18
25. Latvia = 15
26. Greece = 15
27. Bulgaria = 11
28. Slovakia = 10
29. Croatia = 7
30. Slovenia = 6
31. Serbia = 6
32. Belarus = 4
33. Iceland = 3
34. Cyprus = 2
35. Bosnia & Herzegovina = 1

Countries with no robotics; Andorra, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia, Kosovo, Moldova, Malta, Vatican City.

 

CANADA robotics companies by region

1. Ontario = 144
2. British Colombia = 60
3. Quebec = 53
4. Alberta = 34
5. Manitoba = 7
6. Saskatchewan = 6
7. Newfoundland & Labrador = 2
8. Yukon = 1

Regions with no robotics; Nunavut, Northwest Territories.

Actuators, which convert electrical energy into motion or force, play a pivotal role in daily life, albeit often going unnoticed. Soft material-based actuators, in particular, have gained scientific attention in recent years due to their lightweight, quiet operation, and biodegradability. A straightforward approach to creating soft actuators involves employing multi-material structures, such as "pockets" made of flexible plastic films filled with oils and coated with conductive plastics.